Preheat the oven for 400F. In a shallow, wide baking dish with sides, layer the potatoes, then the onion, the cabbage, then the cauliflower florets on top. Mix the garlic, ginger, curry and coconut milk with the sea salt until combined. Pour the mixture evenly over the vegetables in the pan.

Bake on the middle rack for approximately 30 minutes, stir, and bake another 20 -30 minutes, stirring infrequently, until the potatoes are fork tender and the vegetables are lightly browned. Add the chick peas at the 40 minute market. Ovens vary; use the colour and texture as a guide.

When the vegetables are done, remove from the oven and toss with the baby spinach. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool and for the spinach to wilt. Season to taste and serve.

Using powder keeps it simple, but that means the quality of the curry powder makes a big difference to this dish. Use a high quality powder.

If you make the chick peas from scratch for this dish, about 1/2 scant cup will yield slightly more than 1 cup cooked, and that will be fine for this dish. I slow cook mine in larger batches with kombu so that I have them on hand.

A simple, syncretic dish, haluški is typically made with a potato pasta (similar to gnocchi) in central and eastern European cuisines. This is a North American version made with soft (gluten free) noodles and cabbage.

Optional: Replace the black pepper with dried red chili for a spicier dish. Use a tablespoon coconut oil and a little sea salt in place of the margarine if you prefer. A dash of liquid smoke will add some additional flavor to this dish. Scallions add colour to the dish, but vidalia onion will also work (adjust the saute accordingly).

Method

Make the noodles first, then the cabbage. Mix the flours, masa, sea salt and turmeric. Stirring briskly with a fork, slowly pour in the boiling water to mix into a dough. As the dough cool, knead by hand until a smooth elastic dough forms. Roll out on a lightly (tapioca) floured board into a large rectangle about 1/8″ thick or between sheets of plastic wrap.

With a pastry cutter or a knife, cut into 2″ x 3/4″ noodles (or the size you prefer). Traditionally, haluški is scraped off the board with a knife into boiling water, but the noodles in this version are a little sturdier.

In a large pan, bring the water to a boil with the sea salt. Add the noodles and simmer for 3 – 5 minutes, or until the noodles float. Drain carefully, reserving 2 tablespoons pasta water. Rinse gently with cold water. Spread them in thin even layer on a dry, clean cutting board or other surface while you make the cabbage.

While the noodles dry a little, start the cabbage. Bring a large frying pan to heat on medium. Melt the margarine and add the scallions and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes. Add the oyster mushrooms and black pepper. Saute for 3 minutes. Add the cabbage and increase heat to medium high. Stir fry the cabbage for 5-8 minutes, until the cabbage is nicely wilted (reduced by about half) but not mushy.

When the cabbage is ready, add the noodles and reserved pasta water. Stir to combine. Cook another 30 seconds or so. Remove from heat. Add the nutritional yeast and stir to combine. Season to taste. Spoon out, garnish with scallion sliced on an angle, and serve.

Optional: A tablespoon smoked paprika, some chopped green kale toward the end, black olives, red chili flakes, curry powder and other ingredients will give the stew some additional colour, flavour, and nutrition. You can substitute arrowroot for the tapioca, or even cornstarch if
your slow-cooker provides enough heat. Or you can add 2T wheat flour dissolved in the stock at the beginning for something more traditional. Soda bread, buns, pita, and other breads make a nice accompaniment.

Method

Add all of the ingredients up to but not including the tapioca flour to a slow-cooker. Cook until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender. Expect 4-6 hours on high or longer on low. Note, the size and power of the slow-cooker will produce variation in the time to cook the dish. Adjust the temperature and time expectations based on yours.

When the potatoes and carrots are ready, remove the kombu. Add the tapioca flour mixture and stir to distribute. Return to heat for another 10 – 20 minutes or so, stirring periodically until the tapioca has thickened. Once the tapioca has thickened, season to taste, ladle out, garnish with scallions and serve.

Optional: Add some capers for an additional touch. Add 1t herbs de Provence for some additional flavour.

Method

Warm a large pan with a lid on medium-high heat. Water saute the garlic and scallion for 2 minutes. Add the cabbage and artichokes. Saute for 3 minutes. Add the lemon and deglaze the pan (if necessary). Add the stock, kombu, black pepper, and plant milk. Bring the pan to a simmer.

While the soup simmers, prepare the garnish. Add 2T boiling water to the sun-dried tomatoes to rehydrate them. Preheat the oven to 450F. On a baking or roasting pan on the middle rack, roast the kale for 5-8 minutes, or until it’s nicely wilted and a vibrant green (don’t let it brown). Remove from heat and set aside when done.

At the 15 minute mark, remove the soup from heat. Add the cashew butter, sun-dried tomato water and miso. Puree smooth. Stirring continuously, add the tapioca mixture. Stir until it thickens (should be immediately). Reheat the pan only if absolutely necessary. Season to taste.

To plate, ladle/spoon out the soup, garnish with the kale, then the sun-dried tomatoes and then the olives and serve.

A warm and comforting soup based on pasta e lenticchie, which is often made with just ditalini, but broken spaghetti or capellini, or pasta mista are also common. This recipe uses ditalini, but adds farfallini and fideo for variety. This is ‘soupier’ than the traditional dish and makes a small bowl for 4 or a larger bowl for 2. Double the pasta for something more traditional and filling or serve with fresh baked bread sticks as shown here.

Optional: Add a teaspoon coconut sugar (or similar) if you like with the other herbs for a little more balanced flavour. Spinach would be more traditional than cabbage and kale, but chard would also make a nice alternative. Saute the scallions, et al., in a little cooking oil instead of water, or finish the dish with a little drizzled olive oil for a richer taste and mouthfeel. Replace the lentils with chickpeas or white beans.

Method

Start the lentils, then make the pasta.

In a large frying pan with a lid, bring 1 cup water to a light simmer. Add the lentils and kombu. Cover, simmer for 30 minutes until they are fully cooked but still al dente.

While the lentils simmer, combine the dry ingredients for the pasta, add the water and knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough. If you knead for 2 – 3 minutes and the dough is still a bit dry, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, but give it a few minutes. When smooth, cover with a warm wet tea towel and let rest about 15 minutes.

When the dough has rested, prepare and cut the pasta shapes you’d like. See the notes below on how to make the particular shapes. Your lentils should be about ready by the time you are finished with the pasta. Drain, reserving the kombu. Set the lentils and kombu aside.

Warm the pan on medium heat. Add the 2T water, scallion, garlic and herbs. Stir fry for about 2-3 minutes. Add the cabbage and stir fry for another 3 – 5 minutes. Add the lemon and deglaze the pan. Add the stock and 1 cup passata. Return the lentils to the pan.

Return the pan to a light simmer, reduce heat to medium low and simmer 10 minutes. Remove the kombu. Add the kale and stir to combine. Return the pan to a light boil.

Add the farfallini and ditalini and simmer 3 – 4 minutes. Wait a minute or two before adding the fideo. Add the remaining passata and return the pan to a simmer. Simmer another 5 minutes or so until the pasta is done. Remove from heat.

Add the nutritional yeast and stir to combine. Season to taste. To plate, ladle out and garnish with scallion green sliced on an angle, basil, and some additional nutritional yeast if you like and serve.

Making the pasta
Any or all of these shapes will go well in this dish. I also use ricciolini from time to time. Toast or fry the fideo if you like. You can also use boxed pasta, but you may want to parboil separately depending on what you use.

For farfallini, roll out the a large rectangle about 1/8″ thick. Cut 3/4″ x 1/3″ rectangles (smaller if you can). The ends of farfallini are often rounded, but rectangles will be much easier. Working quickly, pinch each strip firmly in the middle with the edges of your thumbs. If you want to make them even smaller, you can always try a pair of tweezers. Let dry on the board.

For ditalini, you’ll either require a dowel or something similar (something long, round and needle-like, but even in diameter). Roll the dough out to about 1/6″ and cut into 4″ x 1/2″ strips. Wrap the dough width-wise around the dowel and pinch closed (so that you have a long, 4″ tube).

Roll gently on the cutting board to create long, even tubes, about 1/3″ in diameter. Slide off the dowel and repeat. If your dowel/dowel replacement is long enough, do longer pieces of dough. Let each dry on the board.

For fideo, some people simply use broken spaghetti, although traditionally, fideo is actually a Spanish noodle and has a slight curve. If you have a lot of experience with chiffonade or julienne, this won’t be a difficult shape.

Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/8″ thick (thinner if you can). Cut into long rectangular strips about 1 1/2″ high by several inches long. Carefully and precisely cut 1/8″ strips. Roll each strip gently with a few fingers to round it. Either curve each strip a little and let dry on the board, or gently arrange on a curved glass and let dry there.